Bihar MLA Jibesh Kumar was talking on his phone in Rohini’s sector 23 when two people on a bike snatched his phone. The incident has happend within a month of Ukaine ambassador, Dr Igor Polikha, falling prey to snatchers near Red Fort.

Jibesh Kumar, a 44-year-old BJP legislator from Jalley constituency in Darbhanga, lost his iPhone to two bike-borne snatchers in Rohini’s sector-23 on Tuesday evening.

The police quickly swung into action but have been unable to find the phone 60 hours after the crime. “Residents of this locality go for evening walks on the street where the snatching happened. I did not know it was notorious for street crimes,” Kumar said on Thursday.

Kumar was in Delhi to meet his children who study here and live at Shanti Apartment in sector 23. “I received a call and walked out of the apartment to talk. I had barely spoken for a few minutes when I felt a slight tap on my hand and phone,” he said.

He said he could not read the number plate of the bike as it all happened swiftly. “In less than a second, they had snatched my phone and were speeding away. They were gone in no time,” Kumar said, denying TV news reports that he was threatened.

He shouted for help a couple of times, but it was too late. “Locals told me later that there have been many cases of snatching around this apartment. A month ago, a young working woman’s new phone was snatched barely 100 metres away. Another woman’s handbag was snatched while she was getting off an auto,” he alleged.

Senior police officers of the district were unavailable for comment on this incident and the previous ones. When HT tried to contact DCP (Rohini) Rishi Pal on phone, he disconnected the call and sent a text message saying he was not in a position to immediately answer.

The MLA, meanwhile, said he was shocked by the audacity of the crime. “Snatching incidents are not the same as big crimes. They occur due to negligence of the authorities,” he said. Kumar has now shot off a letter to the lieutenant governor’s secretary in this regard.